Important GK Notes For SSC CGL Etc Exams (Constitution / Polity) Notes

The Constitution of India is the supreme law of India. It lays down the framework defining fundamental political principles, establishes the structure, procedures, powers and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental rights, directive principles and the duties of citizens. It is the longest written constitution of any sovereign country in the world.^{[Note 1]} B. R. Ambedkar, the chairman of the Drafting Committee, is widely considered to be its chief architec

Parliament of India

Session of parliament

The period during which the House meets to conduct its business is called a session. The Constitution empowers the president to summon each House at such intervals that there should not be more than a six-month gap between the two sessions. Hence the Parliament must meet at least twice a year. In India, the parliament conducts three sessions each year:

• Budget session: February to May
• Monsoon session: July to September
• Winter session: November to December

Constitution of India: features taken from other countries

The Indian Constitution is unique in its contents and spirit. Alhough it had picked up many best features from other constitutions of the world. The constitution of India has several salient features that distinguish it from the constitutions of other countries.

Many people criticise that the Indian Constitution is a bag of borrowings or just a paper and scissor work.

It is true that it had borrowed some features but drafted according to the Historical perspective,Geographical diversity and Cultural and traditional characteristics of India.

The chairman of drafting committee Dr. Ambedkar had said in this regard that – “As to the accusation that the Draft Constitution has reproduced a good part of the provisions of the Government of India Act, 1935, I make no apologies. There is nothing to be ashamed of in borrowing. It involves no plagiarism. Nobody holds any patent rights in the fundamental ideas of a Constitution….”

Here, we are publishing the list of borrowed features of Indian Constitution:

Borrowed features of Indian Constitution are as follows;

Government of India Act of 1935

1. Federal Scheme

2. Office of governor

3. Judiciary

4. Public Service Commissions

5. Emergency provisions

6. Administrative details

Britain

1. Parliamentary government

2. Rule of Law

3. Legislative procedure

4. Single citizenship

5. Cabinet system

6. Prerogative writs

7. Parliamentary privileges

8. Bicameralism

Ireland

1. Directive Principles of State Policy

2. Nomination of mem-bers to Rajya Sabha

3. Method of election of president

Unites States of America

1. Impeachment of the president

2. Functions of president and vice-president

3. Removal of Supreme Court and High court judges

4. Fundamental Rights

5. Judicial review

6. Independence of judiciary

7. Preamble of the constitution

Writs and their Scope |Parliamentary System in India

Canada

1. Federation with a strong Centre

2. Vesting of residuary powers in the Centre

3. Appointment of state governors by the Centre

4. Advisory jurisdiction of the Supreme Court

Australia

1. Concurrent List

2. Freedom of trade

3. Commerce and intercourse

4. Joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament

Soviet Constitution (USSR, now Russia)

1. Fundamental duties

2. The ideal of justice (social, economic and political) in the Preamble

France

1. The ideals of Republic in the Preamble

2. The ideals of liberty in the Preamble

3. The ideals ofequality in the Preamble

4. The ideals offraternity in the Preamble

Weimar Constitution of Germany

1. Suspension of Fundamental Rights during Emergency

South African Constitution

1. Procedure for amendment of the Constitution

2. Election of members of Rajya Sabha

Panchayati Raj System in India

Japan

1. Concept of “procedure established by Law”

List of Borrowed Features of Indian Constitution

Important Amendments in Indian Constitution – SSC CGL (Part 1)

The Constitution of India is neither flexible nor rigid enough but it is a synthesis of both. Constitution of India (under article 368 of Part XX) provided the powers to Parliament to amend the Constitution and its procedures but cannot amend those provisions which form the ‘basic structure’ of the Constitution (As ruled by the Supreme Court in the Keshashavananda Bharti Case, 1973). The Constitution can be amended in three ways:

1. Amendment by simple majority of the Parliament.

2. Amendment by special majority of the Parliament.

3. Amendment by special majority of the Parliament and the ratification of half of the state legislature.

Important Amendments to the Constitution

First Amendment Act, 1951

1. Empowered the state to make the advancement of socially and economically backward classes.

2. Provided for the saving of laws providing for acquisition of estates etc.

3. Added 9^th Schedule to protect the land reform and other laws included in it from the judicial review.

4. Added three more ground of restrictions on freedom of speech and expression, viz., public order, friendly relations with foreign states and incitement to an offence. Also made the restrictions ‘reasonable’ and thus, justifiable in nature.

5. Provided that state trading and nationalisation of any trade or business by the state is not to be invalid on the ground of violation of the right to trade or business.

The Constitution (6th Amendment) Act, 1956

1. Included a new subject in the Union list i.e., taxes on the sale and purchase of goods in the course of inter-state trade and commerce and restricted the state’s power in this regard.

Constitutional (8th Amendment) Act,1960

1. It Extended the period of reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and Anglo-Indians in the Lok Sabha and the State Legislative Assemblies till 1970.

2. It Amended article 334 of the constitution.

Constitutional (10th Amendment) Act, 1961

1. Incorporation of Dadra, Nagar and Haveli as a Union Territory, consequent to acquisition from Portugal.

2. It amended article 240 of the constitution.

Constitutional(13th Amendment) Act,1963

1. Formation of State of Nagaland, with special protection under Article 371A.

2. It amended article 170.

Constitutional(15th Amendment)Act, 1963

1. Enabled the High court’s to issue writs to any person or authority even outside its terrorist’s jurisdiction if the cause of action arises within its territorial limits.

2. Increased the retirement age of high court judges from 60 to 62 years.

3. Provided for appointment of retired judges of the high court’s as acting judges of the same court.

4. Provided the compensatory allowance to judges who are transferring from one High court to another.

5. Enabled the retired judge of high court to act as adhoc judge of the Supreme Court.

6. Provided for the procedure for determining the age of the Supreme Court and High Court judges.

The Constitution (24th Amendment) Act, 1971

1. Affirmed the power of Parliament to amend any part of the Constitution including Fundamental Rights.

2. Made it compulsory for the president to give his assent to a constitutional Amendament Bill.

The Constitution (31st Amendment) Act, 1973

1. Increased the elective strength of the Lok Sabha from 525 to 545. Under the Act, the upper limit of representatives of the States goes up from 500 to 525 and that of the Union Territories decreases from 25 to 20.

The Constitution (36th Amendment) Act, 1975

1. By this Act, Sikkim became the 22nd State of the Indian Union.

The Constitution (37th Amendment) Act, 1975

1. It was passed by Parliament on April 26, 1975, to provide for a Legislative Assembly and a Council of Ministers to Arunachal Pradesh, the country’s north-easternmost Union Territory.

The Constitution (39th Amendment) Act, 1975

1. The Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on August 7 and received Presidential assent on August 9,1975.

2. The Act places beyond challenge in courts the election to Parliament of a person holding the office of Prime Minister or Speaker and the election of President and Vice-President.

The Constitution (40th Amendment) Act, 1976

1. Empowered the Parliament to specify from time to time the limits of the territorail waters, the continental shelf, the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and the maritme  zones of India.

2. Included 64 more Central and state laws, mostly relating to land reforms, in the 9th Schedule.

The Constitution (42nd Amendment) Act, 1976

1. It was enacted during the period of internal emergency. It was passed by Parliament on November 11, 1976 and received Presidential assent on December 18, 1976.

image source:Quora

2. The Amendment established beyond doubt the supremacy of Parliament over the other wings of Government; gave the Directive Principles precedence over the Fundamental Rights;enumerated for the first time a set of ten Fundamental Duties.

3. It further imposed limits on the power and jurisdiction of the judiciary; raised the term of the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabha from five to six years; authorised the use of Central armed forces in any State to deal with law and order problems, made the President bound by the advice of the Council of Ministers and envisaged the establishment of administrative tribunals for service matters of Government employees and also other tribunals for economic offences.

4. The Act also clearly laid down that no Constitutional Amendment could be questioned in any court of law.

The Constitution (43rd Amendment) Act, 1978

1. It received the Presidential assent on April 13, 1978.

2. This Act repeals the obnoxious provisions of the Constitution (42nd Amendment) Act passed during the Emergency. It restores civil liberties by deleting Article 3ID which gave powers to Parliament to curtail even legitimate trade union activity under the guise of legislation for the prevention of anti-national activities.

3. The new law, which was ratified by more than half of the States in accordance with the Constitution, also restores legislative powers to the States to make appropriate provision for anti-national activities consistent with the Fundamental Rights. Under the Act, the judiciary has also been restored to its rightful place.

4. The Supreme Court will now have power to invalidate State laws, a power taken away by the 42nd Amendment Act. The High Courts will also be able to go into the question of constitutional validity of Central laws thereby enabling persons living in distant places to obtain speedy justice without having to come to the Supreme Court.

Amazing facts about Prime Minister’s Residence

The Constitution (44th Amendment) Act, 1978

1. The Constitution (45 th Amendment) Bill, re-numbered as the 44th Amendment came into force on April 30, 1979, when the President gave his assent.

2. The Act removes major distortions in the Constitution introduced during the Emergency. The duration of the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies has been reduced from six to five years—the normal term which was extended during the Emergency under the 42nd Amendment to achieve some political purposes.

3. The Right to Property ceases to be a Fundamental Right and becomes only a legal right according to the Constitution 44th Amendment.

4. The Act also extends, for the first time since independence, constitutional protection for publication of the proceedings of Parliament and State Legislatures, except in cases where it is proved to be “malicious”. Another important feature of the Act is that any proclamation of Emergency need henceforward, be issued by the President only after receiving the advice of the Cabinet as a whole in writing. The President will not be called upon to act on the basis of advice by the Prime Minister on his own without consulting his Cabinet. Other safeguards provide that the proclamation will have to be adopted by a two-thirds majority of the members of both Houses of Parliament within a month.

5. The 44th Amendment provides safeguards against future subversion of the Constitution for establishing an authoritarian regime. It contains provisions which are designed to make it impossible to impose the kind of emergency the country had experienced for 19 months.

The Constitution (45th Amendment) Act, 1980

1. The Act extends reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in Parliament and the State Assemblies and the representation of Anglo-Indians by nomination for a further period of 10 years.

The Constitution (46th Amendment) Bill, 1982

1. It seeks to authorise the government to prepare an authoritative text of the Constitution, in Hindi.

The Constitution (52nd Amendment) Act, 1985

1.The Act has made defection to another party, after elections illegal. Any member defecting to another party after elections will be disqualified from being Member of Parliament or State Legislature.

The Constitution (53rd Amendment) Act, 1986

1. It confers Statehood on Mizoram and ensures against unnecessary interference by the Central Government with the laws relating to spheres of social relationship and community conduct applicable to Mizoram.

The Constitution (54th Amendment) Act, 1986

1.It enhances the salaries of Judges of High Courts and Supreme Court of India. The salary of Chief Justice of India will be Rs 10,000; Chief Justice of High Courts Rs 9000; Judges of Supreme Court Rs 9000; and Judges of High Courts Rs 8000.

The Constitution (55th Amendment) Act, 1987

1. It grants Statehood to Arunachal Pradesh which consequently became the 24th State of the Indian Union.

Special Status of the Jammu and Kashmir

The Constitution (56th Amendment) Act, 1987

1. It confers Statehood on Goa and forms a new Union Territory of Daman and Diu. Goa thus became the 25th State of the Indian Republic.

The Constitution (57th Amendment) Act, 1987

1. It made a special provision for the setting up of the new State of Goa. Consequently Daman and Diu were separated from the former to form a Union Territory.

The Constitution (58th Amendment) Act, 1988

1. It provides for special arrangements with regard to reservation of seats for Scheduled Tribes in the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya. By amending Article 322 the adjustment of seats has been frozen until 2000 A.D.

The Constitution (59th Amendment) Act, 1988

1. It empowered the Central Government to impose Emergency in Punjab when deemed necessary. Under the amendment, President’s rule can be extended up to three years. Earlier maximum period was two years.

The Constitution (61st Amendment) Act, 1989

1. It lowered the voting age from 21 to 18.

What is the difference between Nationality and Citizenship?

The Constitution (62nd Amendment) Act, 1989

1. It provided for the extension by another 10 years of reservation of seats in the Parliament and State Assemblies for the Scheduled Castes and Tribes and reservation for Anglo Indian community by nomination.

The Constitution (63rd Amendment) Act, 1989

1. It repealed Amendment 59 which empowered the government to impose emergency in Punjab.

The Constitution (64th Amendment) Act, 1990

1. It extended the President’s rule in Punjab by six months.

The Constitution (66th Amendment) Act, 1990

1. To bring land reforms within the purview of 9th Schedule of the Constitution.

The Constitution (69th Amendment) Act, 1991

1. Delhi made National Capital Region. The Act also made provision for Legislative assembly and a council of ministers for Delhi.

The Constitution (70th Amendment) Act, 1992

1. Before this act was made Article 54 relating to the election of the President provided for an electoral college consisting only of the elected members of Parliament as well as the legislative assemblies of the States (not of Union Territories). The amendment provide for inclusion of members of legislature of Pondicherry and Delhi.

The Constitution (71st Amendment) Act, 1992

1. The act amends the 8th Schedule to the Constitution to include Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali Languages in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution.

The Constitution (72nd Amendment) Act, 1992

1. To make temporary provision for the determination of the number of seats reserved for the Scheduled Tribes in the State assembly of Tripura, until the re-adjustment of seats is made on the basis of the first census after the year 2000 under article 170 of the Constitution.

The Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992

1. To ensure direct election to all seats in Panchayats; to reserve seats for SCs and STs in proportion to their population; and for reservation of not less than one third of the seats in Panchayats for women.

The Constitution (74th Amendment) Act, 1992

1. It was made to ensure direct election to all seats in Nagarpalikas and Municipalities.

The Constitution (75th Amendment) Act 1994

1. It provides for setting up of State-level Rent Tribunals to exclude the jurisdiction of all courts, except that of the Supreme Court, under Article 136 of the Constitution.

The Constitution (76th Amendment) Act, 1994

1. It relates to the Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutes and of appointments or posts in the Services under a State, for Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The Supreme Court had ruled on November 16, 1992, that the total reservations under Article 16(40) of the Constitution should not exceed 50 per cent.

The Constitution (77th Amendment) Act, 1995

1. According to this Act, the Government have decided to continue the existing policy of reservation in promotion for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

The Constitution (78th Amendment) Act, 1995

1. It includes land reform laws in the Ninth Schedule so that they cannot be challenged before the courts.

The Constitution (79th Amendment) Act, 1999

1. It extends the reservation of seats for SC, ST and Anglo-Indians in the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies for next 10 years.

The Constitution (80th Amendment) Act, 2000

1. It deals with an alternative scheme for sharing taxes between the Union and the States.

The Constitution (81st Amendment) Act, 2000

1. It provides that the unfilled vacancies of a year reserved for SC/ST kept for being filled up in a year as per Article 16, shall be considered separately for filling vacancies in the succeeding year and the previous list will not be considered for filling the 50% quota of the respective year.

Constitution of India: features taken from other countries

The Constitution (82^nd  Amendment) Act, 2000

1.It provides that nothing in the Article 355 shall prevent the State from making any provisions in favour of the members of SC/ST for relaxation in qualifying marks with respect to examination/job/promotion.

The Constitution (83^rd Amendment) Act, 2000

1. The Act amended Article 243 M to provide that no reservation in Panchayats be made in favour of SC/ST in Arunachal Pradesh where the whole population is tribal.

The Constitution (84^th Amendment) Act, 2001

1. Extended ban on readjustment of seats in the Lok Sabha and the state legislature assemblies for another 25 years (i.e., up to 2026) with same objective of encouraging population limiting measures.

The Constitution (85^th Amendment) Act, 2001

1. Provided for ‘consequential seniority’ in the case of promotion by the virtue of rule of reservation for the government servants belonging to the SCs and STs with retrospective effect from June 1995.

The Constitution (86^th Amendment) Act, 2002

1. Provides Right to Education until the age of fourteen and early childhood care until the age of six.

The Constitution (87^th Amendment) Act, 2003

1. Provided for readjustment and rationalisation of territorial constituencies in the states on the basis of the population figures of 2001 census and not 1991 census as provided earlier by the 84^thAmendment Act of 2001.

The Constitution (88^th Amendment) Act, 2003

1. Made provision for service tax (Article 268-A)

The Constitution (89^th Amendment) Act, 2003

1. Bifurcated the erstwhile combined National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes into two separate bodies, namely, National Commission of SCs (Article- 338) and  National Commission of STs (338-A).

The Constitution (90^th Amendment) Act, 2003

1. Provided for maintaining the erstwhile representation of the Scheduled Tribes in the Assam legislative assembly from the Bodoland Territorial Areas District (Article-332 (6))

The Constitution (91st Amendment) Act, 2004

1. Restricted the size of the Council of Ministers (CoM) to 15 percent of legislative members & strengthened the Anti Defection laws.

The Constitution (92nd Amendment) Act, 2004

1. Included Bodo, Dogri, Santali and Maithali as official languages.

The Constitution (93rd Amendment) Act, 2006

1. Provided for 27 percent reservation for other backward classes in government as well as private higher educational institutions.

The Constitution (94th Amendment) Act, 2006

1. To provide for a Minister of Tribal Welfare in newly created Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh States including Madhya Pradesh and Orissa.

Union-State Relations/Centre-State Relations

The Constitution (95th Amendment) Act, 2010

1. To extend the reservation of seats for  Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) in the Lok Sabha and states assemblies from Sixty years to Seventy years

The Constitution (96th Amendment) Act, 2011

1. Substituted Odia for Oriya

The Constitution (97th Amendment) Act, 2012

1. Added the words “or co-operative societies” after the word “or unions” in Article 19(l) (c) and inserted article 43B related to promotion of co-operative societies and added Part-IXB that is The Co-operative Societies.

The Constitution (98th Amendment) Act, 2013

1. To empower the Governor of Karnataka to take steps to develop the Hyderabad-Karnataka Region.

The Constitution (99th Amendment) Act, 2014

1. The amendment provides for the formation of a National Judicial Appointments Commission.

The Constitution (100th Amendment) Act, 2015

1. The term the Constitution (100th Amendment) Act, 2015 was in news in the fourth week of May 2015 as the President of India Pranab Mukherjee gave his assent to the Constitution (119th Amendment) Bill, 2013 that related to the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) between India and Bangladesh.

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